Ekiben Podcast: Recent Episodes

Cara Gerard and Jared Peterson

The Ekiben Podcast is a cute, compact, lovingly curated lunchbox of nerdy train goodness. Hosts Cara Gerard and Jared Peterson love everything to do with trains and rail travel, and in each episode they regale one another with enthusiastic, shakily-sourced stories about trains, stations, routes, journeys and connections that have sparked their interest.

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Jared talks about his favourite line of his favourite urban rail system in his favourite country. Cara talks about the old junk that makes subways very expensive.

Cara's sources:

https://www.grunge.com/103340/artifacts-found-building-subway-systems/?utm_campaign=clip

https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/underground-transit-projects-reveal-secrets-buried-beneath-cities

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36311156

https://www.dailysabah.com/history/2018/03/02/second-century-luxurious-commanders-house-found-in-rome-metro-dig

https://www.grunge.com/103340/artifacts-found-building-subway-systems/?utm_campaign=clip

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/construction-romes-newest-subway-line-revealing-trove-ancient-treasures-180969729/

https://www.afar.com/places/the-templo-mayor-ciudad-de-mexico

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/pyramid-of-ehecatl

https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1146293.shtml

https://www.mic-ro.com/metro/archaeology.html

https://news.gtp.gr/2019/12/20/greek-decision-to-remove-thessaloniki-metro-station-finds-triggers-uproar/

https://blogs.worldbank.org/latinamerica/trains-future-and-past-history-and-archaeology-underground-transport-systems

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/articles/amsterdam-museum-archaeologists-artefacts-river-amstel

https://www.inrap.fr/en/going-back-origins-algiers-archaeological-evaluation-place-des-martyrs-12148

https://blogs.worldbank.org/latinamerica/trains-future-and-past-history-and-archaeology-underground-transport-systems

https://globalvoices.org/2020/01/06/byzantine-pompeii-archaeological-discovery-in-greece-will-be-moved-to-make-way-for-the-thessaloniki-subway/

https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/society/2017/3/13/algiers-commutes-back-in-time-with-metro-station-museum

https://www.francetraveltips.com/remains-of-the-bastille/

https://www.inkstonenews.com/china/how-history-blocks-xian-subway-progress/article/3004133

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Prague_metro_Mustek_A_station_medieval_bridge_135.jpg

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onafuturepodcast Episode 1 — our first mini MINI train snack! While fact checking some of the more dubious claims made in Episode 5, Cara goes down several rolling stock rabbit holes (the best kind). We only want the best, most up-to-date information on rolling stock that was retired decades ago for our dear listener!!

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Cara introduces us to some four-legged and feathered train riders and stationmasters. Jared takes us for a ride on Toronto's Red Rocket. Cara's cats act like jerks.

Cara's sources:

https://hatchingcatnyc.com/category/dog-mascots/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachiko

http://travel.cnn.com/cat-saves-japanese-train-station-586471/

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/moscows-metro-dogs

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/cute-world-mascots/index.html

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/4/130424-animals-weird-cats-science-world-trains-buses/

https://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/05/nyregion/tunnel-vision-waiting-for-the-a-train-the-sophisticated-pigeon.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/23/world/asia/fed-by-indians-monkeys-overwhelm-delhi.html?_r=0

Jared's sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_streetcar_system

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_streetcar_system_rolling_stock

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birney_(Toronto_streetcar)

https://transittoronto.ca/streetcar/4509.shtml

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/now-40-years-old-the-clrv-streetcar-is-a-piece-of-toronto-history-that-almost-never-came-to-be-1.4460552

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ttc-bendy-streetcars-articulated-light-rail-vehicles-end-of-line-labour-day-1.5267535

https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/commuters-to-endure-botched-pronunciation-of-avenue-on-toronto-transit

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Jared talks about spores (and other flora and fungi of our underground networks). Cara geeks out on the complicated transportation options in Cold War Berlin. And we both talk about the food at Ikea WAY more than one would expect for a podcast about trains.

Cara's sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Berlin_S-Bahn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Berlin_U-Bahn

https://www.cntraveler.com/stories/2012-05-21/friedrichstrasse-railway-station-berlin-maphead-ken-jennings

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-18044695

https://www.quora.com/How-did-West-Berliners-travel-to-West-Germany

Jared's sources:

https://interestingengineering.com/11-of-the-most-beautiful-metro-stations-across-the-world

http://www.korea.net/NewsFocus/Society/view?articleId=180632

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2017/06/05/theres-a-garden-inside-a-tube-station-ticket-office/

https://ny.curbed.com/2020/2/19/21143608/lowline-underground-park-lower-east-side-is-dead

http://thelowline.org/about/project/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowline_(park)

https://wamu.org/story/15/10/09/in_damp_metro_tunnels_prehistoric_plants_thrive/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/please-dont-kill-the-sunflowers-the-phantom-planter-says-metro-destroyed-more-than-100-sunflowers-at-the-dupont-circle-station/2019/06/19/1cf3e5de-929e-11e9-aadb-74e6b2b46f6a_story.html

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Even though YOU have known what our podcast is named for some weeks now, we just figured it out! Also, Cara talks a LOT about airports, considering that this is a train podcast. And Jared tells us about 大回り乗車 (that’s oomawari jousha), AKA Around Japan for 140 Yen.

Cara's sources:

https://www.wired.com/2007/12/four-best-airpo/

https://www.wired.com/2007/11/four-worst-airp/

https://www.finavia.fi/en/newsroom/2016/pimp-my-ride-4-facts-about-new-escalators-helsinki-airport-train-station

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q82CyVlosCg (no longer the longest escalator in Finland, that’s now Koivusaari Metro in Helsinki. If only there were a way that I could research these things ahead of time...)

Jared's sources:

https://tokyocheapo.com/travel/tokyo-train-140-yen/

https://tripnote.jp/kanto/train-travel-with-omawari-ticket (in Japanese)

https://skaoverlander.wordpress.com/2018/02/13/大回り乗車-oomawari-jousha-another-way-to-look-and-explore-tokyo-as-cheap-as-140-yen/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koLfWU5SUjw

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Cara actually lets Jared tell a story this time! In our second episode, Jared gushes about a veritable buffet of transit experiences in Hakone, Japan. Cara lovingly recounts the ups and downs (and backs and forths) of the world’s oldest suspension railway, Germany’s Wuppertaler Schwebebahn.

Jared's sources:
Wikis - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakone
/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakone_Tozan_Line
A look back - https://www.hakonenavi.jp/international/en/article/857
The “neato” train stuff - https://www.hakone-tozan.co.jp/en/fun/railway.php
The ropeway - https://web.archive.org/web/20070208133216/http://www.odakyu.jp/english/sightsee/hakone/transpor/Erope.html
If you wanna go - https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5202.html

Cara's sources:
Website and photos - https://www.schwebebahn.de/en/
Wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuppertal_Schwebebahn
Swag swag swag - https://www.wuppertalshop.de/
High praise - https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/places-to-visit-2020/index.html
Cool video - https://observer.com/2020/09/flying-german-railway-movie-moma/

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Cara and Jared stumble their way through their first (unnamed) podcast about trains.